Last Saturday I went to visit Vinum in Alba, and had a chance to have a nice overview of the last Barolo and Barbaresco released.

 I tasted basically nebbiolo based wines, all recent vintages, the oldest the 2004.

 At a first glance I had the impression that there is a sort of alignment to the top for many producers, there were many good wines on the shelf. After tasting many Nebbiolo is also possible to say that these wines tend to be always more complete compared to many their big brothers, Barolo and Barbaresco.

It’s the case of the Nebbiolo of Conterno Fantino, which is the leader of this group of  great wines, cheaper than others but always a good choice to drink.

Another thing that was noted by us, me and Cristina, who gently accompanied me during this visit, is that this alignment to an average high level of wines, is the attempt to tarn the strong tannins of these wines made by many produceres, even if the use of toasted barrels is not going out of fashion for sure.

The top producers who did a very good job in finding a good balance have been Chiara Boschis, Azienda Agricola E. Pira e figli, with her Baolo.

On the Barbaresco side, my vote goes to Mr. Sassi, Azienda Agricola San Cristoforo that presented a great vertical tasting of its Barbaresco wines. The 2004 was outstanding.

Lot of young people around drinking and enjoyning Alba. It has been a very nice day.